Warrant: Ex-DMV Deputy Commissioner Sexually Abused Child Over Five Years

WATERBURY — A former deputy commissioner of the state Department of Motor Vehicles repeatedly sexually assaulted a girl with whom he was acquainted over a five-year period, according to the warrant for his arrest, which was unsealed Tuesday.

Victor M. Diaz, a 36-year-old Democrat from Waterbury, resigned his $115,000-a-year patronage position Sept. 9, a day after Waterbury detectives began their investigation into the sexual assault of the child.

He was charged Sept. 23 with one count of first-degree sexual assault, four counts of fourth-degree sexual assault, one count of attempted first-degree sexual assault, two counts of second-degree sexual assault, one count of attempted second-degree sexual assault, one count of second-degree unlawful restraint, two counts of risk of injury to a minor and employing a minor in an obscene performance.

He had been held on $750,000 bail, but was released Monday after a judge allowed his family to post 10 percent, or $75,000 in cash, with the court clerk.

In an interview with detectives, Diaz denied sexually assaulting the child. "Why would she say such a thing?" Diaz asked a detective. He also made comments about his career, his six-figure salary, and said that his life was over, according to the warrant.

Police received an anonymous tip through the state Department of Children and Families from the mother of one of the girl's friends on Sept. 8 that she was threatening to harm herself. The girl, now 15, had confided to friends that she was being sexually assaulted and that she no longer wanted to be in the world, according to the warrant.

Detectives checked on the girl that night and found that she was OK and that her mother was in a position to help her if a problem arose. They turned the investigation over to sex crimes detectives, who the next day went to the girl's school to speak to her about what she had said.

At first, the girl would not disclose who was sexually abusing her. She eventually said that it was Diaz, the warrant says, and police took her to headquarters to interview her further. She described abuse that began when she was 10 and in fifth grade, and included inappropriate touching that progressed to sexual assaults. The girl told police that she would resist sometimes by kicking Diaz, but that he persisted.

He also had her send photographs of her naked body to him on a cellphone he bought her. Police, according to the warrant, seized the phone and found images of her naked body on it.

"A few months ago I started thinking about killing myself and leaving a note for my mom saying why," the girl told detectives. "I tried cutting my arms, but did not break the skin. It only left red marks." The girl said she told her friend what she had done and her friend asked why. "I told her I was sad and wanted to leave this world," she said. "I thought if I killed myself I wouldn't have to tell on him [Diaz] and I didn't know what to do because I wanted him to stop touching me."

"I was afraid to tell anybody about this because I didn't want to hurt everyone," she told police.

During a brief appearance at Superior Court in Waterbury on Tuesday, Diaz's lawyers, William Gerace of Hartford and Martin Minnella of Waterbury, entered a plea of not guilty and asked for a jury trial. Diaz is due back in court on Nov. 7.

Gerace said after court that Diaz has been in the prison infirmary because he is deeply depressed. He said that Diaz also suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of Army service in Iraq.

Diaz was active in the 2010 campaign for governor and was appointed deputy DMV commissioner on Feb. 1, 2011. At the time, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said that Diaz would "help make the DMV a more consumer-oriented agency, finding ways to increase efficiency and quality, while using the Internet to change the way in which people traditionally interact with the department." Diaz served as deputy city clerk in Waterbury from 2005 until his appointment to DMV.

After Diaz's arrest, Malloy issued a statement calling the allegations against Diaz "reprehensible."